A Beijing court sentenced Chinese-Canadian pop star Kris Wu to jail for 13 years after he was found guilty of sex crimes, including rape, the court said in a post on its official Weibo account. Wu was found guilty of raping three women and also arranging a crowd to engage in an orgy with two other women.
Wu was arrested last year in China, where he was born and had built a lucrative career. The court ruled that he will be deported soon, despite the fact that in China, deportations often happen after sentences have been served. There are several other women also who alleged Wu of sexual assault.
Found Guilty
Wu was found guilty of two offenses, including rape and collecting a group to engage in promiscuous behavior, and was given sentences of 11 years and 6 months and 22 months, respectively. According to the Weibo post, the court ruled on a fixed-term punishment of 13 years.
The singer raped three women between November 2020 and December 2020 while the women were unable, or did not know how, to resist due to alcohol intoxication.
“Wu Yifan took advantage of three drunken women … at his home,” the court said on its official WeChat account.
The celebrity, who was formerly a part of the K-pop group EXO, moved back to China in 2014 to focus on his solo career.
Wu was arrested on July 31 last year after being charged in public by a Chinese student of pressuring her and other females. The student, Du Meizhu stated on social media at that time that she had met Wu when she was 17 years old.
She said that she was coerced into drinking alcohol and woke up the next morning in his bed after being invited to a karaoke party at his house.
Wu rejected the allegations, but at least 24 additional victims have come forward to accuse him of being predatory. He was charged with inviting women to alcohol-fueled wild karaoke parties.
Long Sentence
The singer also faces a fine of 600 million yuan for tax evasion. He allegedly used a fictitious company to make misleading claims about his global income, according to the state news agency Xinhua.
Wu is accused of evading taxes by 84 million yuan and avoided paying $13 million in taxes between 2019 and 2020 by disguising personal income through domestic and overseas linked firms, according to the authorities.
Wu, a Canadian citizen who was born in China, rose to stardom in the 2010s as a member of the K-pop boyband EXO. After shaping a successful solo career as a singer, actor, model, and variety show judge, he became one of China’s top celebrities.
At the time of his arrest, Wu was the ambassador of at least 15 companies. However, brands like Porsche, L’Oreal Men, Bulgari, Louis Vuitton, and Bulgari have suspended their association with Wu over the case.
